T  P 

185 

M25 

1868 

MAIN 


UC-NRLF 


B    3    53fi 


A   LECTURE 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA, 


MAY     80,     1H68. 


I»>y  ,1,  W,  MALLET,  PH.D.;  M,D,;  F.l'.S,, 

-')R   OF  ANALYTICAL  AND  APPTJI  P  ('III'.MISTRY  IN  THK.  UMVKRijTTY. 


IiTH.GBB9B«i 

SCHAPFTER  &   BRYANT,   PRINTERS. 
1  8  0  8  . 


A   LECTURE 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA, 


MAY    3O,     1868. 


BY  JI  W,  BALLET,  PH.D.;  MJ).j  F,C,S,, 

PROFESSOR  OF  ANALYTICAL  AND  APPLIED  CHEMISTRY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


SCHAFFTER  &  BRYANT,  PRINTERS. 
1868. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA, 

June  1st,  18GX, 
Professor  J.  W.  MALLET, 

DEAR  SIR, — The  undersigned  committee  of  the  members  of  your  class 
earnestly  request,  for  publication,  a  copy  of  your  recent  Lecture  on  the 
objects  and  plan  of  instruction  in  your  department.  We  are  prompted  to 
this  by  the  conviction  that  the  best  interests  of  the  School  of  Analytical 
and  Applied  Chemistry,  and  of  the  University  at  large,  would  be  advanced 
by  bringing  more  before  the  public  a  Lecture  that  gave  such  universal 
satisfaction  to  those  who  heard  it. 

Hoping  you  will  grant  our  request, 

We  remain  with  the  greatest  respect, 

Your  obedient  servants, 

KING  WYLLY.  J.  W.  KYGER. 

GARRETT  WALKER.  S.  T.  EVANS. 

H.  W.  JONES.  L.  W.  T.  BRADFORD. 

F.  S.  SAMPSON.  J.  S.  WALKER. 

J.  VAN  DEVENTER.  •  JOHN  H.  POPE. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA, 

June  2,  1868. 
Messrs.  WYLLY,  WALKER,  AND  OTHERS, 

Committee  of  Class  in  Analytical  Chemistry, 

University  of  Virginia. 

GENTLEMEN, — I  beg  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  note  of  yesterday's 
date. 

It  is  naturally  gratifying  to  me  to  find  that  the  Class  has  been  interested 
by  the  Lecture  in  question,  the  manuscript  of  which  is  at  your  disposal  in 
accordance  with  your  request. 

I  am,  gentlemen, 

Faithfully  yours, 

U>AN  STACK  J'  W-  MAL^ET. 

GIFT 


Applied  to  tlie 

V  -A&   -JL.-. 


A  LECTURE  DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  MAY  30,  1868, 
BY  J.  W.  MALLET,  PH.  D.,  M.  D.,  F.  C.  S.,  PROFESSOR  OF  ANALYTICAL 
AND  APPLIED  CHEMISTRY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY. 

"Inter  siyna  nullum  magis  certum  out  nobile  est,  quam  quod  ex  fructibus.  ,  .  . 
Quocirca  quemadmodum  in  religione  cavetur  ut  fides  ex  operibus  monstretur;  idem 
etiam  ad  philosophiam  optime  traducitur,  ut  ex  fructibus  judicetur,  et  vana  habeatur 
qux  sterilis  sit;  alque  eo  magis  si,  loco  fructuum  uvae  et  olivae,  producat  disputa- 
tionum  et  contentionum  carduos  et  spinas." 

— BACON — Novum  Organum.  Aphor.  LA'JTIIL 

GENTLEMEN, — A  desire  has  been  expressed  by  the  Rector  of  the 
University,  and  by  some  of  my  colleagues  of  the  Faculty,  that,  in 
entering  upon  the  duties  of  the  recently  created  Chair  to  which  I 
have  had  the  honor  of  being  elected,  I  should  bring  before  the 
University  some  general  views  with  regard  to  the  department  of 
knowledge  to  which  this  new  Chair  is  to  be  devoted,  and  the  object 
and  manner  of  embodying  its  teachings  with  the  system  of  instruc- 
tion in  this  time-honored  institution. 

In  attempting  to  fulfil  the  duty  imposed  upon  me  by  such  desire, 
I  will  ask  your  attention  to  a  brief  discussion  of  the  following 
topics,  viz : 

FIRST. — The  reasons  which  seem  to  render  it  desirable  that  the 
A 


173 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


applications  of  chemical  science  to  the  useful  arts  should  be  made 
the  subject  of  formal  instruction  in  the  higher  institutions  of 
learning ; 

SECONDLY. — The  character  of  the  expectations  which  may  be 
justly  formed  of  the  nature  and  value  of  such  instruction ;  and, 

LASTLY. — The  special  and  practical  form  which  it  will  probably 
be  well  to  give  to  the  teachings  of  the  professorship  in  question  in 
the  University  of  Virginia. 

Many  reasons  suggest  themselves  for  the  introduction,  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  of  Applied  Science,  in  all  its  forms,  amongst  the  subjects 
taught  in  the  institutions  of  learning  of  the  highest  order. 

Prominent  among  these  reasons  is  the  great  importance  which  the 
subject  itself  has  assumed  amongst  civilized  men  in  comparatively 
very  modern  times. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  general  laws  and  phenomena  of  external 
nature  has  been  increased  within  the  memory  of  those  now  living  to 
an  extent  and  at  a  rate  far  greater  than  for  any  equal  period  in  the 
earlier  history  of  mankind.  In  many  of  those  branches  of  physical 
science  which  have  long  been  recognized,  investigation,  constantly 
increasing  in  activity,  has  been  rewarded  by  progress  of  the  most 
striking  character.  Multitudes  of  new  facts  have  been  ascertained, 
and  many  new  and  important  principles  have  been  discovered.  In 
several  directions  entirely  new  realms  of  intellect  have  been  thrown 
open,  and  their  exploration  has  been  at  once  eagerly  and  actively 
entered  upon.  Several  of  the  natural  sciences — to-day  of  univer- 
sally admitted  interest  and  importance — bear  names  which  a  century 
ago  were  unknown  or  were  employed  with  very  different  meaning. 
The  number  of  those  who  devote  their  lives  to  the  study  of  physical 
science  has  enormously  increased,  so  that,  instead  of  the  few  sturdy 
pioneers  who  in  past  times  pushed  forward  before  their  fellows 
upon  the  frontier  of  the  unknown,  so  far  separated  from  each  other 
as  scarcely  to  exchange  help  or  sympathy,  and  so  far  removed  from 
the  thoughts  and  interests  of  the  rest  of  the  world  that  their  exis- 
tence was  often  scarcely'  recognized,  we  see  to-day  thousands  of  busy 
laborers  cultivating  these  recently  opened  fields  of  intellectual  effort, 
encouraging  each  other  by  constant  intercourse,  and  honorably  known 
to  their  fellow-men  for  the  success  which  they  have  achieved  and  the 
rich  harvests  which  they  gather  into  the  store-houses  of  knowledge. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  .  5 


Particularly  noteworthy  have  been  the  advances  made  in  the 
application  of  our  knowledge  of  scientific  truth  to  the  comfort  and 
convenience  of  mankind.  No  longer  are  the  man  of  learning  and 
the  artizan  separated — as  to  a  large  extent  they  formerly  were — by 
the  distance  between  the  unpractical  speculation  of  the  one  and 
the  unenlightened  manual  dexterity  of  the  other.  Nowadays  each 
new  discovery  of  fact  or  principle  is  at  once  seized  upon,  and  its  pos- 
sible bearing  upon  any  of  the  useful  arts  eagerly  canvassed  and  exam- 
ined. New  wants  and  new  desires  are  created  as  new  means  for  their 
supply  and  gratification  are  brought  to  light.  And,  on  the  other 
hand,  new  trains  of  investigation  are  entered  upon,  and  further  efforts 
in  abstract  research  are  stimulated,  as  it  becomes  evident  that  the 
possession  of  knowledge  not  yet  acquired  can  be  made  to  minister  in 
some  particular  direction  to  the  comfort  or  the  luxury  of  man. 

It  has  become  so  common  as  almost  to  have  become  tiresome  to 
refer  in  general  terms  to  the  great  advantages  which  have  been 
gained  in  modern  times  from  the  practical  application  of  natural 
science  to  the  arts  of  civilization — yet  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  most  persons  have  any  distinct  idea  of  the  immense  influ- 
ence upon  the  daily  life  of  all — and  especially  of  all  except  the  very 
rich — which  the  progress  of  applied  science  for  the  last  century,  or 
even  half  century,  has  had. 

Readers  of  MACAULAY'S  History  of  England  are  charmed  by  the 
distinctness  with  which,  in  one  of  his  best  known  chapters,  he  repro- 
duces for  us  a  sketch  of  the  actual  condition — material,  social  and 
political — of  England  towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
We  are  astonished  to  find  how  striking  is  the  contrast  brought  out 
by  such  a  detailed  picture  between  the  habits,  comforts  and  enjoy- 
ments of  the  Englishman  of  to-day  and  those  of  his  ancestor  of  but 
five  or  six  generations  back.  An  equally  vivid  picture,  from  as  able 
a  pen,  of  the  state  of  the  civilized  world  at  even  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century  in  reference  to  the  useful  and  ornamental  arts  would 
furnish  an  instructive  standard  by  which  to  measure  the  progress 
these  arts  have  made  since  the  days  of  our  grandfathers,  and  to 
estimate  the  blessings  which  the  scientific  industry  of  the  last  sixty 
or  seventy  years  has  conferred  upon  us. 

Many  of  the  examples  most  frequently  quoted  of  the  advances 
made  during  this  short  period  are  drawn  from  other  than  the  chem- 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the,  Arts. 


i 

ical  arts.     There  are  numbers  of  men  now  living  who  need  not  to  be 

reminded  that  they  have  themselves  seen  the  development  of  rail- 
roads, and  the  transportation  upon  them  of  passengers  and  goods  at  a 
speed  five  or  ten  times  as  great  as  was  formerly  possible,  and  upon  a 
scale  previously  unattempted — an  increase  of  at  least  five  fold  in  the 
size  of  sea-going  vessels,  and  their  propulsion  by  an  agent  that  defies 
wind  and  weather  and  makes  the  ocean  a  punctually  traversed  high- 
way— the  establishment  of  cheap,  rapid  and  effective  communication 
by  mail  —  the  truly  wonderful  interchange  of  thought  between  dis- 
tant countries  and  opposite  continents  by  the  electric  telegraph — the 
production  of  weapons  of  war  and  means  of  defence  such  as  had  not 
formerly  been  dreamed  of — the  substitution  of  the  labor  of  the  un- 
tiring steam-engine  for  that  of  untold  millions  of  men  and  other 
animals — extensions  and  improvements  in  the  production  of  food, 
clothing,  and  shelter,  such  as  have  thrown  open  to  the  laboring  man 
of  the  present  day  advantages  of  life  that  seventy  years  ago  could 
only  be  enjoyed  by  the  wealthy,  and  in  many  respects  were  not  even 
at  their  command. 

But  if  we  confine  our  attention  to  those  arts  alone  which  depend 
upon  Chemistry,  the  most  hasty  retrospect  presents  us  with  a  sur- 
prising list  of  advances  made  within  the  same  period. 

The  streets  of  our  cities  and  our  public  buildings  have  been  illu- 
minated by  coal  gas  with  a  brilliancy,  cleanliness,  cheapness  and 
safety  formerly  unknown.  Our  private  houses  are  lighted  in  the  same 
way,  or  with  the  rival  hydro-carbons  drawn  in  the  liquid  state  from 
beneath  the. solid  rock  and  refined  to  the  limpid  clearness  of  water. 
The  clumsy  and  uncertain  flint  and  steel  have  been  replaced  as  a 
source  of  fire  by  the  effective  and  convenient  friction  match.  The 
smelting  of  iron  from  its  ores,  and  its  production  in  the  various  forms 
of  cast-iron,  wrought-iron,  and  steel,  have  been  extended  upon  a  scale 
that  dwarfs  the  manufacture  of  the  last  century  into  insignificance. 
The  important  process  of  Mr.  BESSEMER  for  the  direct  conversion  of 
cast-iron  into  steel  even  now  opens  to  us  the  prospect  of  vast  changes 
in  the  uses  which  may  be  made,  and  the  quantity  that  may  be  con- 
sumed of  this  most  valuable  metal.  The  production  of  sulphuric 
acid  u.pbn  an  immense  scale,  and  the  adoption  of  the  process  of  LEB- 
LANC  and  DIZE  for  making  carbonate  of  soda  from  common  salt  have 
led  the  way  to  striking  improvements  in  the  manufacture  of  glass 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


and  soap,  in  the  methods  of  dyeing  and  calico-printing,  and  in  a 
hundred  arts  besides  which  require  the  possession  of  acids  and  alka- 
lies in  abundance  and  at  a  reasonable  price.  The  bleaching  agency 
of  chlorine  has  been  made  practically  available,  and  gives  us  the 
snowy  whiteness  of  the  fabrics  we  wear  and  the  paper  on  which  we 
write.  Many  improvements  of  detail  have  been  made  in  the  manufac- 
ture and  decoration  of  porcelain.  Sugar  boiling  and  sugar  refining 
have  gained  largely  by  the  application  of  chemical  knowledge,  and  the 
extraction  of  sugar  from  the  root  of  the  beet — suggested  by  MARG- 
GRAF  as  early  as  1747,  but  not  practically  brought  into  use  until  the 
dearth  of  colonial  sugar  caused  by  the  continental  wars  of  the  first 
NAPOLEON — has  grown  up  as  an  important  and  very  perfect  branch 
of  chemical  manufacture.  Quite  recently  the  application  of  the  laws 
of  osmose  or  liquid  diffusion  through  porous  septa  has  furnished  an 
entirely  new  method  of  separating  crystallizable  sugar  from  the 
organic  impurities  which  accompany  it,  and  this  method  has  been  put 
in  practice  upon  the  large  scale.  The  working  of  indian  rubber  in 
its  thousand  protean  forms,  and  the  "  vulcanizing"  process,  by  which 
we  confer  upon  it  at  pleasure  most  dissimilar  and  most  strongly 
marked  physical  properties,  are  discoveries  of  our  own  day. 

Several  new  arts  have  arisen  which  depend  in  part  upon  other  than 
chemical  principles,  but  have  drawn  largely  upon  chemistry,  both  in 
their  origin  and  development — such  as  electro-metallurgy,  which 
produces  the  sharpest  casts  by  means  of  metals  in  liquid  solution  at 
common  temperatures,  and  coats  with  a  brilliant  film  of  gold  or  silver 
objects  moulded  in  the  baser  metallic  alloys  —  and  photographv, 
which  fixes  for  us  the  pictures  of  natural  objects  with  the  fidelity  of 
nature  herself. 

Other  arts — as  that  of  agriculture — ,  long  pursued  by  man  empiri- 
cally^ have  begun  to  assume  a  rational  form  with  the  aid  of  the  light 
which,  it  is  now  seen,  chemistry  is  capable  of  throwing  upon  them. 

A  host  of  new  and  valuable  substances — unknown  to  our  fore- 
fathers— have  been  added  to  our  resources  by  the  progress  of  chemi- 
cal discovery.  Malleable  platinum,  indispensable  to  the  chemist 
himself,  and  lending  most  important  aid  to  the  great  manufacture  of 
sulphuric  acid — iodine  and  bromine,  with  the  services  they  render 
in  medicine  and  photography — quinine,  morphine,  strychnine  and 
atr<;piue;  potent  but  reliable  weapons  in  the  struggle  with  disease — 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


chloroform,  which  gives  blessed  unconsciousness  of  the  tortures  of 
the  surgeon's  knife — citric  and  tartaric  acids  prepared  in  large  quan- 
tity, which  with  salts  of  potash  give  immunity  from  the  scurvy  that 
formerly  raged  on  shipboard  during  long  voyages — carbolic  acid, 
which  as  a  disinfectant  promises  to  become  one  of  our  most  effectual 
safe-guards  against  pestilence  in  large  cities — dextrine,  which  sup- 
plies the  dyer,  the  calico-printer,  and  many  another  artizan  with  a 
cheap  and  satisfactory  substitute  for  gum — the  paraffine,  stearic  acid 
and  glycerine  which,  with  their  numerous  uses,  have  been  given  to 
the  world  in  quantity  mainly  by  the  enlightened  energy  of  a  single 
manufacturing  firm — the  gun-cotton  and  nitro-glycerine  which  have 
been  added  to  our  list  of  explosive  materials — the  compound  ethers, 
which  enable  us  to  imitate  the  odor,  and  flavor  of  the  most  delicious 
fruits — all  these  form  but  a  part  of  the  achievements  of  the  very 
recent  times  of  which  we  have  been  speaking. 

Let  me  remark  in  passing  that  it  is  not  with  pride,  or  with  a  belief 
in  great  intellectual  superiority  on  the  part  of  the  men  of  our  own 
day  to  those  of  preceding  centuries,  that  we  should  regard  such 
results  as  have  been  named.  It  should  ever  be  borne  in  mind  that 
we  have  been  building  on  foundations  laid  by  those  who  came  before 
us — that  much  of  what  has  been  done  in  modern  times  was  only  ren- 
dered possible  by  the  results  of  patient  toil  on  the  part  of  men  long 
passed  away,  who  often  saw  little  apparent  success  reward  their  labor 
in  their  own  day  and  generation.  As,  when  we  look  upon  the  pant- 
ing locomotive  or  the  titanic  steam-hamrner  of  the  present  day,  we 
often  think  only  of  the  wonderful  ingenuity  and  skill  displayed  in 
that  one  machine,  apparently  so  perfect  in  design  and  execution,  and 
are  apt  to  forget  how  many  other  parent  machines — lathes,  drills, 
planers,  and  the  like — had  first  to  be  invented  and  constructed,  before 
that  which  we  admire  could  be  built;  how  these  in  turn  were  prece- 
ded by  others  of  yet  simpler  kind,  and  these  by  hand  tools — the  des- 
cendants of  rude  contrivances,  the  very  names  and  uses  of  which 
have  been  forgotten. 

But  in  the  history  of  invention  or  discovery  the  French  proverb 
is  often  applicable  —  it  is  the  first  step  which  involves  the  greatest 
difficulty.  The  early  efforts  at  the  investigation  of  nature  —  crude 
and  apparently  barren  of  immediate  result  as  they  often  were  —  yet 
frequently  demanded  a  higher  order  of  intellect  and  more  severe  men- 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


tal  exertion  than  those  of  the  man  of  modern  times,  who  attacks 
more  difficult  problems,  but  with  the  accumulated  knowledge  of  cen- 
turies to  start  from  and  to  aid  him.  The  grown  man  may  smile  at 
the  seeming  feebleness  of  the  child's  intellect,  yet  perhaps  he  never 
during  life  is  called  upon  for  so  severe  a  mental  effort,  in  proportion 
to  the  means  with  which  it  is  to  be  made,  as  is  involved  in  the  acqui- 
sition of  spoken  and  written  language  during  the  first  few  years  of 
childhood. 

We  can  hardly  help,  indeed,  being  amused  as  we  read  ARISTOTLE'S 
grave  enquiries  as  to  the  reason  that  sneezing  may  be  cut  short  by 
rubbing  one's  eye,  and  why  it  is  that  men  whose  teeth  are  widely 
separated  do  not  live  long,  or  the  discussion  by  Sir  THOMAS  BROWNE 
of  the  ability  of  unfortunate  ostriches  to  eat  iron — yet  we  should  be 
in  the  wrong  to  consider  that  these  particular  passages  fairly  represent 
their  author's  attempts  at  the  investigation  of  nature;  and,  even  if 
they  did,  we  should  be  bold  in  assuming  that  wise  men  of  our  own 
day  would  have  made  any  better  choice  of  questions,  or  attacked 
them  more  intelligently  or  successfully,  had  they  been  placed  in  the 
dim  and  uncertain  light  which  the  minds  cf  antiquity  possessed  alone 
to  guide  them. 

Without,  however,  any  senseless  boasting  of  our  own  times,  or 
invidious  comparison  with  the  past,  we  may  well  look  with  admiration 
and  gratitude  upon  the  present  rapid  progress  of  the  study  of  nature, 
and  of  the  application  of  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  man's  happiness  and  welfare. 

In  a  civilized  community  the  University  should  be  the  highest 
exponent  of  the  actual  condition  of  human  knowledge.  It  surely, 
therefore,  cannot  be  deemed  right  that  applied  science — a  department 
of  knowledge  which  to-day  yields  such  magnificent  results,  and  which 
absorbs  the  attention  and  engages  the  best  efforts  of  thousands  of 
able  and  well  trained  intellects  throughout  the  civilized  world,  should 
be  excluded  from  or  neglected  in  the  list  of  studies  which  the  Univer- 
sity recognizes  as  parts  of  a  liberal  education. 

Nor,  in  fact,  does  any  such  idea  prevail.  It  is  seen  that  education 
in  the  principles  and  applications  of  natural  science  is  of  the  highest 
value  to  the  student  himself,  and  through  him  to  the  community  of 
which  he  is  a  member.  For  many  years  past  the  opinion  has  been- 


10  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 

steadily  gaining  ground  amongst  intelligent  men  that  opportunities 
for  the  study  of  natural  science,  both  in  its  general  laws  and  special 
applications,  should  be  presented  to  the  youth  who  are  to  form  the 
educated  classes  of  the  State,  and  that  where  facilities  for  such  study 
already  exist  they  should  be  fostered,  extended,  and  improved.  In 
some  communities  this  view  has  originated  within  the  higher  schools 
of  learning  themselves;  in  others  it  has  been  urged  upon  their  atten- 
tion by  the  pressure  of  public  opinion  from  without.  In  some 
places  it  has  been  carried  into  practical  effect;  in  others  it  remains 
yet  in  the  form  of  an  ill-defined  belief  that  the  time  has  come  when 
some  such  change  must  be  made  in  the  system  of  public  education ; 
but  everywhere — on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic — we  find  the  idea  in 
existence,  and  yearly  growing  in  recognized  importance. 

In  England  the  subject  has  been  very  actively  discussed — particu- 
larly since  1851,  in  which  year  a  strong  impression  was  made  upon 
the  public  mind  by  the  silent  teachings  of  the  first  international 
exhibition  of  industrial  products,  for  which  great  lesson  the  nation 
was  largely  indebted  to  the  sound,  practical  wisdom  of  the  late  Prince 
ALBERT. 

In  the  report  upon  the  University  of  Cambridge*  presented  to 
Parliament  in  the  following  year,  the  Royal  Commissioners  made  the 
following  remarks  with  reference  to  the  teaching  of  Chemistry  : 

"The  Science  of  Chemistry  is  rapidly  extending  its  ramifications  into  all 
the  arts  of  life,  and  a  knowledge  not  merely  of  its  principles,  but  also  the 
practical  power  of  applying  them,  is  becoming  daily  more  and  more  impor- 
tant as  a  part  of  general  as  well  as  professional  education" — 

adding  further  on  the  practical  recommendation : 

"But  the  Science  is  much  too  extensive  for  the  teaching  of  one  Professor : 
and  we  venture  to  hope  that  the  University  will  eventually  add  a  second, 
who  may  divide  with  the  present  Professor  the  vast  range  of  subjects  con- 
tained in  this  extensive  Science." 

Since  then  the  study  of  chemistry,  as  well  as  of  other  branches  of 
natural  science,  has  been  actively  encouraged  in  all  the  English 
Universities  and  Colleges ;  technical  schools  of  applied  science  of 
various  grades  have  been  founded — such  as  the  Royal  College  of 
Chemistry,  the  Royal  School  of  Mines,  etc. — ;  and  a  system  of  public 

*  Report  of  Her  Majesty's  Commissioners  appointed  to  enquire  into  the  state,  discipline, 
studies,  and  revenues  of  the  University  and  Colleges  of  Cambridge.  Presented  to  both  Houses 
of  Parliament  by  command  of  Her  Majesty.  London,  1862,  p.  102. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  11 

examinations  has  been  made  to  foster  the  same  departments  of  study 
when  carried  on  under  private  instructors. 

Yet  the  most  able  and  watchful  guardians  of  public  education  in 
that  country  are  far  from  believing  that  enough  has  yet  been  done. 
Just  at  present  there  is  a  renewal  of  eager  interest  in  the  subject, 
due  in  part  to  the  stimulus  of  last  year's  International  Exhibition  at 
Paris.  There  have  been  published  *  extracts  from  replies  made  by  a 
number  of  eminent  English  jurors,  who  attended  that  Exhibition 
to  official  enquiries  addressed  to  them  upon  the  subject  of  its  bearing 
upon  technical  education. 

Dr.  LYON  PLAYFAIR  says : 

"  When  he  found  some  of  our  chief  mechanical  and  civil  engineers 
lamenting  the  want  of  progress  in  their  industries,  and  pointing  to  the 
wonderful  advances  which  other  nations  are  making ;  when  he  found  our 
chemical,  and  even  textile  manufacturers  uttering  similar  complaints,  he 
naturally  devoted  attention  to  elicit  their  views  as  to  the  causes.  So  far 
as  could  be  gathered  by  conversation,  the  one  cause  upon  which  there  was- 
most  unanimity  of  conviction,  was  that  France,  Prussia,  Austria,  Belgium, 
and  Switzerland  possess  good  systems  of  industrial  education  for  the  mas- 
ters and  managers  of  factories  and  workshops,  and  that  England  possesses 
none." 

In  the  last  expression  the  word  "  none"  must  of  course  be  under- 
stood in  a  relative  sense  only. 

Professor  TYNDALL,  F.R.S.  "  expresses  a  general  concurrence  in 
the  views  of  Dr.  PLAYFAIR,"  and  says : 

"  The  facilities  for  scientific  education  are  far  greater  on  the  Continent 
than  in  England,  and,  when  such  differences  exist,  England  is  sure  to  fall 
behind  as  regards  those  industries  into  which  the  scientific  element  enters." 

Dr.  FRANKLAND,  F.R.S.  says  : 

"He  refers  the  want  of  progress  in  the  manufactures  of  this  country 
(England)  chiefly  to  the  almost  utter  lack  of  a  good  preparatory  education 
for  those  destined  to  take  part  in  industrial  pursuits.  This  great  defect  in 
the  school  and  college  education  of  England  affects  the  masters  and  man- 
agers of  our  factories  even  more  deeply  than  the  workmen  themselves. 
The  former  have  but  rarely  had  any  opportunities  of  making  themselves 
acquainted  with  the  fundamental  laws  and  principles  of  physics  and  chem- 
istry ;  they,  therefore,  find  themselves  engaged  in  pursuits  for  which  their 
previous  education  has  afforded  them  no  preparation,  and  hence  their  ina- 
bility to  originate  inventions  and  improvements.  It  is  true  that  such  men 

*  Chemical  News— August  16th  1867— (Supp'l)— p.  89, 
B 


12  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


not  unfrequently  imagine  themselves  inventors,  and  the  yearly  files  of  patent 
specifications  abound  with  instances  of  their  so-called  inventions.  The 
great  loss  of  time  and  money  attending  these  futile  patents  would  be  ren- 
dered impossible  by  a  very  moderate,  if  accurate,  knowledge  of  chemical 
and  physical  science.  In  the  polytechnic  schools  of  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land the  future  manufacturer  or  manager  is  made  familiar  with  those  laws 
and  applications  of  the  great  natural  forces  which  must  always  form  the 
basis  of  every  intelligent  and  progressive  industry.  It  seems  that  at  length 
this  superiority  in  previous  training  is  more  than  counterbalancing  the 
undoubted  advantages  which  this  country  (England)  possesses  in  raw 
material." 

Dr.  DAVID  S.  PRICE  says  : 

"  His  firm  belief  is  that  extended  scientific  education  is  of  the  highest 
consequence  to  us  if  we  wish  to  retain  our  present  position  in  the  scale  of 
nations." 

And  other  writers  express  similar  convictions.* 

France  has  long  recognized  the  value  of  the  application  of  science 
.to  the  arts  and  of  scientific  training  for  those  who  are  to  engage  in 
industrial  pursuits. 

Le  Conservatoire  Imperial  des  Arts  et  Metiers,  the  Imperial  Mint, 
the  great  establishments  of  Sevres  and  the  Gobelins,  L'Ecole  des 
Mines,  and  especially  of  late  years  L'Ecole  Centrale  des  Arts  et 
Manufactures,  have  all  been,  and  remain,  luminous  centres  of  educa- 
tion and  intelligence.  They  are  supplemented  by  other,  less  known, 
schools,  both  in  Paris  and  in  the  provinces,  and  keen  interest  is 
manifested  in  adding  whatever  there  may  be  found  advantageous  in 
the  systems  of  other  nations. 

Quoting  again  from  the  official  correspondence*  just  referred  to : 

DUMAS,  so  long  known  as  the  eminent  Professor  of  Chemistry  at 
the  Sorbonne, 

u  Asserts  that  technical  education  had  given  a  great  impulse  to  the  indus- 
try of  France.  In  going  through  the  exhibition,  whenever  anything  excel- 
lent in  French  manufacture  struck  his  attention,  his  invariable  question 
was,  'Was  the  manager  of  this  establishment  a  pupil  of  the  Ecole  Centrale 
des  Arts  et  Manufactures  ?'  and  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  he  received 
a  reply  in  the  affirmative.  General  MORIN,  so  well  known  as  the  Director 

*  The  announcement  has  very  recently  been  made  that  Mr.  WHITWOETH —  the  well  knoAvn 
maker  of  machine  tools,  and  inventor  of  the  rifle  and  rifled  cannon  which  bear  his  name — has 
presented  to  the  British  nation  £90,000  sterling,  or  about  $600,000  in  United  States  currency, 
for  the  purpose  of  founding  thirty  scholarships,  to  be  obtained  by  competition  in  Applied 
Science,  and  to  be  held  for  some  years  by  workmen  who  will  go  through  a  thorough  course  of 
scientific  and  artistic  training." 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  13 

of  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts  et  Metiers,  has  lately  sat  on  a  commission  to" 
examine  into  the  state  of  technical  education  in  other  countries  and  to 
extend  it  in  France,  and  their  recommendations  are  likely  to  be  promptly 
and  largely  acted  upon.  General  MORIN  was  of  opinion  that  the  best  sys- 
tem for  the  technical  education  of  workmen  is  to  be  found  in  Austria, 
though  the  higher  instruction  of  masters  and  managers  is  better  illustrated 
in  France,  Prussia,  and  Switzerland." 

Not  only  in  Prussia  and  Austria,  and  in  the  minor  states  of  West- 
ern Europe — in  Holland,  Belgium,  Saxony  and  Switzerland — has 
this  subject  received  great  attention  of  late  years,  but  the  same 
remark  applies  to  Russia,  the  government  of  which  country  both 
presses  forward  scientific  and  technical  education  at  home,  and  fre- 
quently sends  forth  at  the  public  expense  intelligent  men  to  study 
abroad  the  arts  and  manufactures  of  foreign  nations. 

Upon  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  considerable  activity  has  already 
been  displayed  by  the  Northern  States,  and  the  last  few  years  have 
seen  the  foundation  of  the  scientific  schools  of  Harvard  and  Yale 
Colleges,  the  School  of  Mines  of  Columbia  College,  N.  Y.,  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology,  and  similar  scientific  branches 
attached  to  several  other  of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  both 
in  the  East  and  West. 

These  schools — in  some  cases  founded  by  the  parent  colleges,  in 
others  the  offspring  of  private  liberality — are  said  to  have  already 
exhibited  a  rapid  growth  and  gratifying  results.  Intelligent  men 
look  to  their  teachings  and  influence  as  of  the  highest  importance  to 
the  future  development  of  the  industrial  energies  of  the  country. 

But,  turning  our  attention  to  the  Southern  States,  weighty  reasons 
of  a  special  kind  may  be  urged  in  favor  of  extending  the  teachings 
of  applied  science  here  amongst  ourselves;  reasons  drawn  from  a  con- 
sideration of  the  condition  in  which  our  country  is  at  present,  unfor- 
tunately, found. 

Exhausted  by  recent  war — her  fields  not  yet  recovered  from 
the  ravages  of  armies,  the  weeds  of  enforced  neglect,  and  the 
destructive  inundations  due  to  ruined  public  works — a  large  pro- 
portion of  her  few  manufacturing  establishments  burnt — her  former 
system  of  labor  destroyed,  and  as  yet  unreplaced  by  any  efficient  sub- 
stitute— the  accumulated  wealth  of  her  past  history  entirely  swept 
away — the  South  has  no  foundation  on  which  to  rear  again  the  edifice 

*  Chem.  News — loc.  cit. 


14  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


of  future  material  prosperity,  except  the  indestructible  gifts  of  nature 
which  a  kind  Providence  has  bestowed  upon  her,  and  the  enlightened 
energy  and  industry  of  the  sons  who  love  her  and  mean  yet  to  raise 
her  from  the  dust. 

In  discussing  the  immediate  future,  the  prospects  of  recuperation, 
and  the  direction  which  public  and  private  effort  should  take,  there 
seems  to  be  no  point  upon  which  thinking  men  are  more  generally 
agreed  than  the  necessity  of  varying  the  forms  of  Southern  industry 
and  Southern  products,  instead  of  attempting  to  revive  the  purely 
agricultural  policy  of  the  past,  which  resulted  in  the  Southern  States 
producing  for  sale  to  the  rest  of  the  world  little  or  nothing  beside 
her  magnificent  crops  of  four  or  five  valuable  staples,  while  depend- 
ing upon  other  states  or  countries  for  domestic  supplies  of  almost 
every  article  of  necessity  or  convenience.  Agriculture  must,  of 
course,  still  be  pursued,  as  the  basis  of  all  prosperity,  and,  doubtless, 
to  be  successful,  must  be  practised  with  much  more  intelligent  skill 
than  ever  before — but  with  the  uncertain  character  and  amount  of 
the  labor  upon  which  Southern  farmers  will  obviously  have  to  rely 
for  a  long  time  to  come,  it  is  clearly  to  be  desired  that  other  forms  of 
industry  should  be  developed,  less  vitally  dependant  upon  labor — 
and,  above  all,  labor  in  connection  with  particular  seasons — as  a  con- 
dition of  success. 

Already  the  tendency  in  this  direction  is  becoming  well  marked, 
and  receives  additional  stimulus  from  the  poverty  of  the  country,  and 
the  necessity  that  presses  upon  almost  every  one  of  getting,  in  eome 
form  or  other,  to  work.  All  over  the  land  there  are  parents 
anxiously  looking  for  employment  for  their  sons,  and  thousands  of 
young  men  themselves — and,  indeed,  of  older  men  as  well — are 
seeking  new  and  profitable  occupation  for  their  hands  and  brains. 

Surely  the  country  and  the  times  in  which  we  live  most  urgently 
demand  such  educational  facilities  as  shall — so  far  as  formal  educa- 
tion can  conduce  to  that  end — indicate  the  directions  in  which  indus- 
trial effort  may  hope  for  success,  and  the  methods  and  conditions  by 
which  such  success  is  to  be  attained. 

If,  then,  it  be  confessedly  desirable  that  applied  science  should 
constitute  a  branch  of  public  education  of  the  higher  grade,  let  us 
glance  briefly  at  the  nature  of  such  teaching  and  the  expectations 
which  may  fairly  be  entertained  with  regard  to  its  benefits. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  15 


There  are  two  principal  advantages  to  be  derived  from  education, 
in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  generally  used — the  one,  mental 
discipline  and  the  increase  of  intellectual  strength  —  the  other,  the 
acquisition  of  special  knowledge,  with  the  power  to  make  practical 
use  of  it. 

In  some  quarters  objection  has  been  made  to  the  modern  tendency 
to  embody  the  study  of  natural  science  in  the  system  of  University 
instruction,  on  the  ground  that  this  amounts  to,  at  least  partially, 
setting  aside  the  time-honoured  and  well-proved  subjects  of  discipli- 
nary education — more  particularly  mathematics  and  the  classical  lan- 
guages— in  favor  of  lighter  and  more  easily  mastered  subjects,  less 
calculated  to  strengthen  and  to  train  the  intellect. 

But  this  objection  rests  in  great  part  upon  the  assumption  that  the 
study  of  natural  science  is  taken  up,  or  permitted  to  be  taken  up,  in 
such  an  easy  form,  and  with  so  little  earnestness  and  thoroughness, 
that  no  better  result  could  be  looked  for  than  the  production  of 
mere  smatterers,  destitute  alike  of  mental  training  and  of  really 
acquired  knowledge. 

With  the  rapid  extension,  yet  imperfection,  of  our  acquaintance 
with  the  laws  of  nature,  with  the  wonderful  correlation  existing 
among  these  laws  themselves,  and  with  their  innumerable  and  often 
highly  complex  applications  to  the  production  of  facts  and  phenom- 
ena in  themselves  familiar,  the  mind  can  find  abundant  material  for 
arduous  labor  and  severe  discipline.  "In  this,  as  in  every  other 
field  of  labor,  no  man  can  put  aside  the  curse  pronounced  upon  him — 
that  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow  he  shall  reap  his  harvest." 

If  a  man  will  content  himself  with  picking  up  at  second-hand  a 
few  statements  of  so-called  "  popular  science,"  or  will  amuse  himself 
merely  with  philosophical  toys  and  the  repetition  of  a  few  showy 
experiments,  the  eifort  will  certainly  be  a  very  easy  one — if,  how- 
ever, he  aim  at  really  mastering  the  facts,  principles,  and  applica- 
tions of  even  but  a  single  branch  of  physical  science,  and  at  becom- 
ing in  time  himself  an  "  interpreter  of  nature,"  he  will  find  that  no 
lazy  or  untrained  intellect  will  serve  his  purpose. 

In  some  respects  the  investigation  of  nature  possesses  peculiar 
advantages,  and  specially  educates  particular  faculties  of  the  mind. 
Admitting  that  of  all  studies  that  of  mathematics  is  best  fitted  to 
d«vclope  the  power  of  reasoning  in  its  most  abstract  form,  we  must 


16  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


also  admit  that  the  mathematician  is  apt  in  his  arguments  sometimes 
to  overlook  the  examination  of  the  assumed  facts  which  are  his  prem- 
ises, in  his  stern  pursuit  of  the  consequences  to  which  they  logically 
lead.  On  the  other  hand,  nothing  so  perpetually  occupies  the  atten- 
tion of  the  student  of  natural  science  as  the  discovery,  the  examina- 
tion, and  the  verification  of  facts.  Sometimes  he  is  able  to  collect  a 
number  of  facts  together  in  the  form  of  a  principle,  more  or  less 
general — sometimes  he  must  content  himself  for  the  moment  with  the 
simple  determination  of  an  apparently  isolated  truth — but  at  all 
times,  whether  he  can  refer  it  to  its  cause  or  not,  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  nature  is  the  object  towards  which  he  strains  his  eyes.  He  learns 
humility  and  a  wise  distrust  of  hasty  speculation  as  he  finds  how 
many  cherished  errors  he  is  called  upon  to  give  up,  and  how  much 
labor  he  has  sometimes  wasted,  because  misdirected — he  learns  judg- 
ment and  the  power  of  discriminating  between  truth  and  the  errors 
which  resemble  it,  as  he  over  and  over  again  submits  to  the  test  of 
experiment  the  knowledge  he  supposes  he  has  gained — and  he  learns 
love  and  reverence  for  the  truth  itself,  as  he  finds  himself  permitted 
to  question  at  the  awful  shrine  of  Nature,  which  never  returns  a 
false,  though  often  an  oracular  and  imperfectly-understood  reply. 

In  reference,  however,  to  the  study  of  natural  science  probably 
most  persons  think  chiefly  of  the  value  of  the  special  knowledge 
which  is  to  be  acquired,  and  the  practical  use  which  may  be  made  of 
it.  This  consideration  is  more  particularly  before  us  at  present.  It 
may  be  well,  therefore,  to  notice  a  few  of  the  chief  points  deserving 
of  attention  as  to  the  true  relation  between  the  laws  and  phenomena 
of  nature  and  the  application  of  them  to  the  set  vice  of  man. 

The  student  of  pure  science  occupies  himself  solely  with  facts  and 
principles,  regardless  of  any  artificial  bearing  that  may  be  given 
them  upon  the  wants  and  comforts  of  the  human  race.  He  who 
devotes  himself  to  applied  science  must  not  only  study  with  equal 
attention  these  same  facte  and  principles  of  nature,  but  in  addition 
must  notice  the  direction  and  the  form  in  which  they  may  be  made 
subservient  to  the  purposes  of  daily  life. 

The  latter,  therefore,  is  called  upon  to  examine  the  wants  of  society, 
constantly  varying  in  character  and  urgency 

In  this  niatter-of-fact  world,  and  under  the  organized  system  of  com- 
merce of  modern  times,  the  measure  of  the  urgency  of  such  wants  is 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  17 

the  money  price  which  the  means  of  satisfying  them  can  command — • 
and  hence  the  student  of  applied  science,  in  dealing  with  the  ques- 
tion of  the  attainment  of  any  particular  object,  has  to  consider — 

IST. — The  possibility  of  its  attainment. 

2D. — The  cost  of  its  attainment. 

3D. — The  price  which  society  will  be  willing  to  pay  for  its 
attainment. 

A  proposed  object  may  involve  in  its  very  conception  a  contradic- 
tion of  some  great  law  of  nature — in  which  case  it  may  at  once  be 
pronounced  impossible  of  attainment.  Thus,  we  are  well  assured  that 
the  aggregate  amount  of  matter  and  that  of  force  in  the  universe,  so 
far  as  revealed  to  us,  are  unchangeable,  and  it  is  useless  to  discuss 
the  details  of  any  scheme,  however  plausible,  which  includes  the 
idea  of  the  creation  of  either  the  one  or  the  other,  though  but  to 
the  smallest  extent — many  a  laborious  attempt  has  been  made  at 
mechanical,  and  not  a  few  at  chemical,  improvements,  which  a 
recognition  of  this  truth  would  at  once  have  shewn  to  be  absurd. 

But  we  must  be  certain  that  the  supposed  law  of  nature  has  been 
deduced  from  sufficient  observation.  Before  the  time  of  MITSCHER- 
LICH  it  might  have  been  stated  as  such  a  law  that  different  substances 
refuse  to  crystallize  together  when  mixed  in  variable  proportions,  and 
may  therefore  be  separated  from  one  another  by  the  process  of  crys- 
tallization ;  but  he  shewed  that,  while  this  is  generally  true,  it  is  not 
invariably  so — that  there  are  certain  bodies  which  do  crystallize  to- 
gether, no  matter  in  what  proportion  they  may  be  mixed,  and  hence 
that  such  substances  cannot  be  separated  by  the  process  in  question. 

Moreover,  we  must  be  cautious  that  we  correctly  apply  a  natural 
law,  though  it  be  itself  well  established.  Thus,  as  has  been  well 
instanced,*  a  man  acquainted  with  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  its 
action  in  causing  bodies  to  fall  to  the  earth,  might  not  unnaturally 
declare  the  fact  of  a  balloon  rising  when  released  to  the  height  of 
several  thousand  feet  above  the  earth  impossible ;  yet,  when  properly 
examined,  this  fact  is  seen,  not  only  not  to  contradict  the  law  of 
gravitation,  but  even  in  part  to  be  a  direct  result  of  it. 

We  may  set  before  us  a  particular  object,  which  does  not  involve 
any  conflict  with  the  known  laws  of  nature,  and  which  therefore  can- 
not be  pronounced  necessarily  impossible — and  yet  it  may  be  practi- 

*By  LIEBIQ. 


18  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


colly  impossible  for  us  in  the  present  condition  of  our  knowledge, 
having  resisted  all  attempts  at  its  attainment  by  the  application  of 
known  principles  in  any  way  hitherto  tried.  A  notable  example  of 
this  is  afforded  by  the  question  of  the  artificial  production  of  the 
diamond.  We  know  that  the  diamond  is  simply  crystallized  carbon; 
we  can  procure  carbon  in  abundance;  and  in  the  case  of  a  vast  number 
of  other  substances  we  can  by  well-known  methods  readily  cause  them 
to  assume  the  crystalline  form — we  can  even  crystallize  a  kindred  ele- 
ment, boron,  and  give  it  properties  closely  resembling  those  of  the  dia- 
mond— but,  with  regard  to  carbon,  hundreds  of  chemists  have  tried 
all  known  means  of  inducing  crystallization  in  diamond  form,  without 
success.  So  many  such  efforts  have  been  made  as  to  render  it  very 
unlikely  that  any  further  experiment  will  be  more  fortunate,  unless 
tried  in  some  as  yet  unforeseen  direction,  and  this  research  cannot  be 
recommended  to  any  one  as  a  profitable  occupation.  Yet  it  would 
not  surprise  chemists  if  a  method  for  producing  genuine  diamonds 
were  to  be  discovered  to-morrow — surprise  is  rather  felt  on  the  con- 
trary that  no  such  method  has  as  yet  been  found. 

But  the  object  at  which  we  aim  may  be  entirely  possible  in  prin- 
ciple, and  attainable  in  point  of  scientific  fact;  and  yet  its  attainment 
may,  under  existing  conditions,  be  commercially  impossible,  if  either 
it  cost  too  much  or  will  command  too  small  a  price. 

The  element  of  cost  generally  depends  upon  many  and  various 
conditions — some  of  which  belong  properly  to  the  domain  of  science, 
while  others  are  of  a  purely  commercial,  a  social,  or  even  a  political 
character. 

Thus,  in  some  cases,  the  costliness  of  a  product  of  art  may  be  due 
to  the  rarity  in  nature  of  the  material  necessary  for  its  production ; 
and,  if  this  material  be  indispensable,  and  it  cannot  be  had  more 
abundantly,  there  is  little  use  in  improving  the  processes  of  its  after 
treatment. 

Here  chemistry  teaches  us  to  carefully  distinguish  between  the 
elementary  substances — of  which  some  64  are  now  known,  and 
which  we  are  unable  to  convert  into  each  other — and  the  compounds 
of  these  elements,  which  may  be  built  up  from  their  constituents  in 
various  ways.  If  the  absolute  scarcity  of  an  element  be  the  cause  of 
the  great  cost  of  some  product  in  which  it  forms  an  essential  constit- 
uent, there  is  but  one  way  in  which  we  can  get  over  the  difficulty — 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  19 


we  must  search  in  nature  for  some  as  yet  undiscovered  source  of 
the  element  in  question. 

Any  discovery  which  might  be  made  at  present,  of  no  matter  how 
useful  a  kind,  if  it  involved  the  use  of  the  metal  Bismuth  upon  a 
large  scale,  would  have  little  immediate  practical  value — since  this 
metal  is  so  far  only  known  to  occur  at  but  few  localities  and  in 
comparatively  small  quantity. 

An  instance  has  recently  occurred  of  the  successful  development 
upon  a  large  scale  of  a  new  source  of  supply  of  an  elementary  sub- 
stance of  great  value.  I  allude  to  the  working  for  compounds  of 
potassium  of  the  immense  deposit,  at  Stassfurt  in  Prussian  Saxony, 
of  chloride  of  potassium  and  magnesium,  which  occurs  there  associ- 
ated with  rock  salt — this  has  at  once  enormously  reduced  the  price 
of  potash  in  the  great  markets  of  the  world,  and  has  at  the  same 
time  furnished  by-products  of  the  manufacture  which  are  highly 
valuable  as  manures.  Another — though  minor — source  of  the  same 
element  in  an  available  form,  which  has  heretofore  been  overlooked, 
is  the  fleece  of  the  sheep  in  its  rough  state.  This,  it  has  been  found, 
contains  a  considerable  amount  of  potash  in  combination  with  fatty 
acids.  The  water  in  which  the  wool  is  washed  has  hitherto  been 
thrown  away,  but  now  in  France  it  is  made  to  yield  potash  to  the 
extent  of  from  7  to  9  p.  c.  of  the  weight  of  the  unwashed  wool. 

In  the  relation  of  which  we  are  speaking  a  striking  difference  is 
observable  between  inorganic  and  organic  products.  The  former  are 
much  more  prominently  characterized  by  the  particular  elements  which 
they  contain — the  latter  are  composed  of  but  few,  and  generally  the 
same,  elements,  and  their  properties  depend  chiefly  upon  the  manner 
in  which  these  elements  are  combined.  To  this  fact  is  largely  due 
the  magnificent  and  often  unexpected  results  which  the  arts  of  late 
years  have  gained  from  the  extended  study  of  organic  chemistry. 

Amongst  inorganic  substances,  however,  there  have  been  striking 
examples  of  increased  economy  of  production  following  a  change  in 
the  selection  of  the  particular  natural  source  of  the  material  desired 
The  carbonate  of  soda  so  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  the  manu- 
factures of  glass  and  soap  was  formerly  derived  from  the  ash  of 
marine  plants,  and  when  LEBLANC  had'  shown  how  it  might  be 
obtained  from  common  salt  the  quantity  manufactured  was  enor- 
mously increased,  and  the  cost  was  correspondingly  diminished, 
c 


20  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


Ultramarine  was  formerly  prepared  from  the  rare  mineral  Lapis 
Lazuli,  and  then  ranked  amongst  the  most  costly  pigments,  and  was 
found  only  in  the  hands  of  portrait  painters  and  artists  of  the 
highest  order.  GUIMET  discovered  the  method  of  so  combining  the 
silicic  acid,  alumina,  soda  and  sulphur,  which  are  the  essential  com- 
ponents of  the  natural  mineral  and  of  the  pigment  prepared  from 
it,  as  to  reproduce  perfectly  the  desired  color,  and  at  a  cost  more  than 
a  hundred  fold  less  than  formerly  necessary,  so  that  artificial  ultra- 
marine is  now  used  upon  the  great  scale  for  decorating  wall  paper 
and  for  other  common  purposes  of  the  arts. 

Very  often,  therefore,  a  reduction  in  the  cost  of  an  article  admits 
of  being  obtained  by  an  improvement  in  the  method  of  preparing  it. 
And  this  remark  applies,  not  only  to  money  cost,  but  sometimes  also 
to  the  expenditure  of  human  life  and  human  health.  In  factories  of 
lucifer  matches  the  introduction  of  the  amorphous  phosphorus  dis- 
covered by  SCHROTTER,  in  place  of  the  long  known  form  of  this  ele- 
ment, has  largely  diminished  the  danger  from  fire  and  explosion,  and 
has  obviated  all  necessity  for  the  sufferings  previously  endured  by  the 
operatives  from  carious  disease  of  the  lower  jaw  produced  by  the 
fumes  of  the  ordinary  phosphorus. 

As  has  been  stated,  there  are  many  other  conditions  which  affect 
the  cost  of  a  process  or  of  its  product — the  supply  of  fuel  and  water, 
of  labor  and  machine  power — the  distance  and  cost  of  necessary 
transportation.  Many  of  these  conditions  require  other  than  purely 
scientific  examination,  and  must  depend  upon  other  than  purely  sci- 
entific means  for  improvement,  but  all  must  be  taken  into  account, 
and  their  effect  carefully  estimated,  before  any  reasonable  assurance 
of  success  can  be  entertained  in  a  question  of  economically  applied 
science. 

Should,  however,  the  object  we  aim  at  be  physically  possible  of 
attainment,  and  attainable  at  a  moderate  or  even  a  trifling  cost,  there 
remains  to  be  considered  whether  when  attained  it  is  one  which 
mankind  will  value — for  which  society  will  be  willing  to  pay. 

There  are  thousands  of  substances  whose  names  are  to  be  found  in 
text-books  of  chemistry,  the  properties  of  which  are  either  such  as 
have  no  recognized  use  and  value,  or  such  as  are  presented  by  other 
bodies,  already  found  in  commerce,  in  greater  perfection  or  more  con- 
venient form.  It  is  of  no  use  at  present  to  manufacture  substan- 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  21 


ces  with  which  we  know  not  what  to  do  when  we  have  obtained 
them. 

But  we  should  cautiously  guard  against  pronouncing  a  substance 
or  a  process  intrinsically  valueless  simply  because  no  important  use 
for  it  has  as  yet  been  found.  Sometimes  a  material,  whose  properties 
may  for  a  long  time  have  been  thoroughly  known,  but  not  usefully 
applied,  suddenly  becomes  of  great  value  as  new  demands — arising 
often  from  very  remote  causes — render  evident  the  direction  in  which 
it  may  be  made  of  service.  The  value  of  a  product  often  changes 
enormously  with  the  course  of  time  and  the  general  progress  of  the 
world's  industry.  Two  hundred  years  ago  the  metal  platinum  would 
have  been  of  little  use — the  arts  in  connection  with  which  it  is 
employed  to-day  with  very  gredt  advantage  had  not  then  arisen. 

Sometimes,  too,  a  substance  may  have  been  examined,  but  not 
thoroughly — some  of  its  characteristics  ascertained,  but  not  all — and 
such  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  its  properties  may  cause  it  to  be  neg- 
lected as  valueless,  until  further  research  or  some  fortunate  accident 
reveals  the  use  which  may  be  made  of  it.  SOUBEIRAN,  when  in 
1831  he  discovered  chloroform,  and  DUMAS  and  LIEBIG — eminent 
chemists  as  they  were — ,  who  followed  him  in  examining  it,  did  not 
ascertain  its  effect  upon  the  animal  body  when  respired  in  the  form 
of  vapor,  and  little  suspected  what  a  "  blessing  in  disguise"  the  mate- 
rial they  had  under  their  hands  would  in  a  few  years  prove  to  be. 

In  like  manner,  errors  of  observation  or  experiment  upon  a  new 
'substance,  or  a  failure  to  obtain  it  in  a  state  of  purity,  may  lead  to 
its  true  properties  and  value  remaining  long  concealed.  The  ideas 
entertained  for  many  years  with  respect  to  the  metal  aluminum, 
founded  upon  experiments  made  with  very  small  quantities  of  the  ele- 
ment in  an  impure  condition,  were  found  to  be  quite  erroneous  when 
it  had  been  prepared  on  a  larger  scale  and  free  from  other  sub- 
stances— that  which  was  formerly  supposed  to  be  of  no  use  was 
found  to  possess  some  quite  valuable  properties. 

Sometimes  we  find  science  suggesting  a  want,  as  well  as  the  means 
of  supplying  it,  and  society — recognizing  the  importance  of  the  sug- 
gestion— coming  back  upon  science  with  demands  upon  a  scale  so 
much  greater  than  was  originally  foreseen  that  fresh  researches  and 
new  discoveries  have  to  be  made  in  order  to  respond  to  them.  The 
great  demand  for  bones  to  be  used  in  various  forms  as  manure  was 
created  by  the  teachings  of  science  as  to  the  value  of  the  phosphate 


22  Cliemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 

of  lime  which  they  contain;  this  value  becoming  fully  recognized  in 
commerce,  the  demand  has,  of  late  years,  so  increased  in  England  as 
to  seriously  threaten  its  exceeding  the  means  of  supply — but  the 
fresh  activity  given  by  this  fact  to  scientific  research  has  recently 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  large  quantities  of  fossil  phosphate  of 
lime,  in  the  form  of  coprolites,  and  the  manufacture  of  this  material 
upon  so  large  a  scale  that,  in  place  of  importing,  England  now 
exports  phosphatic  manures. 

It  is  often  extremely  interesting  to  notice  the  history,  in  order  of 
time,  of  the  steps  by  which  an  invention  or  discovery  is  developed 
by  science  and  rendered  available  for  the  purposes  of  commerce. 

Sometimes — but  very  rarely — a  novel  object  is  attained  without 
having  been  before  specially  sought  for,  its  value  at  once  recognized, 
the  means  for  its  attainment  put  into  a  commercially  practicable 
form,  and  its  results  given  to  the  world,  by  the  exertions  of  a  single 
man,  and  within  a  comparatively  short  period  of  time.  Of  this  the 
most  remarkable  instance  in  our  own  day  has  been  the  production 
and  rapidly  spreading  use  of  the  peculiar  kind  of  steel,  sometimes 
called  "homogeneous  metal,"  but  now  more  generally  known  by  the 
name  of  the  man — Mr.  BESSEMER — who  originated  the  idea  of  its 
manufacture,  surmounted  the  practical  difficulties  that  attended  its 
production  at  first,  demonstrated  its  value  and  the  uses  which  may 
be  made  of  it,  introduced  it  into  commerce,  and  now  enjoys  the 
personal  reward  of  his  labors  in  the  form  of  a  princely  income — larger 
perhaps  than  has  ever  before  been  derived  from  a  patented  invention. 

Sometimes  a  material  or  a  process  fulfilling  certain  particular  con- 
ditions is  called  for  by  society,  and  long  sought  for  with  the  aid  of 
science  before  success  comes  to  crown  the  eiforts  made — under  such 
circumstances  a  powerful  stimulus  is  given  to  research  by  the  cer- 
tainty and  the  immediate  character  of  the  reward  to  be  looked  for 
by  the  successful  discoverer  or  inventor.  It  was  notorious  that  the 
supply  of  illuminating  and  lubricating  oil  from  the  whale  fisheries  of 
the  world  was  fast  diminishing,  and  that  a  substitute  was  urgently 
demanded,  when,  some  years  ago,  active  scientific  research  led  after  a 
time — first  to  the  production  of  kerosene  or  photogene  oils,  from  the 
dry  distillation  of  highly  bituminous  coals  and  schists — and  later  to 
the  discovery  of  large  supplies  of  petroleum  in  the  older  rocks,  and 
the  perfecting  of  methods  for  the  purification  of  this  new  material. 
Even  now  there  are  many  industrial  objects  aimed  at  by  scientific 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  23 


men,  the  means  of  securing  which  have  not  yet  been  ascertained — 
but  which  we  may  reasonably  hope  will  yet  successfully  be  accom- 
plished. A  most  tempting  problem  of  this  kind  is  that  of  the  pro- 
duction of  artificial  quinine,  which  is  not  deemed  by  any  means  hope- 
less, though  it  has  already  been  eagerly  essayed  by  several  chemists 
of  great  ability. 

Sometimes  the  order  of  time  is  reversed,  and  a  substance  or  a 
phenomenon  may  be  said  to  be  presented  by  science  to  the  world  in 
anticipation  of  any  demand  for  it,  but  with  a  good  deal  of  confidence 
that  some  day  or  other  it  will  be  found  to  be  useful.  Thus,  the  sub- 
stance naphthaline  has  been  known  for  many  years  as  one  of  the 
results  of  the  dry  distillation  of  coal  in  the  manufacture  of  gas — it 
has  been  a  mere  waste  product,  accumulated  and  thrown  away  in 
large  quantity — but  chemists  have  long  felt  confident  that  it  could  be 
turned  to  useful  account,  and  quite  recently  a  method  has  been  dis- 
covered by  which  a  magnificent  violet  color  may  be  obtained  from  it, 
which  has  at  once  come  into  use  as  a  dye.  In  like  manner,  bi-sulphu- 
ret  of  carbon  was  for  a  long  time  a  mere  chemical  curiosity — only  to 
be  found  in  small  quantities  in  scientific  laboratories — but  known  to 
possess  properties  which  would  most  likely  in  the  end  render  it  com- 
mercially valuable.  It  is  now  prepared  upon  a  very  large  scale,  and 
used  for  dissolving  indian  rubber,  extracting  colza  and  other  oils, 
destroying  weevil  in  grain,  and  various  other  purposes.  As  an 
example  of  a  body — at  present  useless — but  with  some  properties 
which  perhaps  indicate  for  it  an  important  future,  I  may  mention  the 
element  silicon,  as  not  very  long  ago  prepared  and  described  by  the 
eminent  French  chemist,  DEVILLE. 

Most  usually,  however,  the  history  of  an  invention  or  discovery  is 
a  complex  one,  and  presents  us  with  many  partial  additions  to  know- 
ledge— often  following  one  another  at  long  intervals — and  many 
partial  applications  of  the  knowledge  thus  gained — sometimes  in  the 
direct  line  of  the  original  enquiry,  sometimes  in  quite  .a  different 
direction — the  exertions  of  many  independent  workers  often  con- 
spiring to  the  final  result. 

It  may  not  be  without  interest  to  present  you  with  one  or  two 
examples — such  as  are  afforded  by  the  history  of  the  alkaline  and 
earthy  metals  and  that  of  the  coloring  materials  derived  from  coal 
tar. 


24  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


In  the  year  1807  Sir  HUMPHREY  DAVY,  who  had  just  before  dis- 
covered the  compound  nature  of  potash,  extending  his  research  to 
soda,  found  that  it  too — on  being  subjected  to  the  action  of  a  power- 
ful galvanic  current — separated  into  oxygen  and  a  new  metallic  sub- 
stance. This  new  metal,  however,  was  obtained  only  in  minute 
globules,  most  of  which  burned  again  immediately  in  the  air,  repro- 
ducing soda.  Its  extreme  lightness,  causing  it  to  float  upon  water, 
and  the  fact  that  it  may  be  inflamed  by  mere  contact  with  water, 
while  it  possesses  the  lustre  and  other  of  the  physical  characters  of 
the  long  known  metals,  were  properties  which  excited  a  lively  interest 
in  sodium,  as  in  the  kindred  metal  potassium,  but  these  promised 
nothing  of  practical  utility. 

By  further  experiments  DAVY  satisfied  himself  that  not  only  the 
alkalies  but  the  earths,  including  magnesia  and  alumina,  are  com- 
pound bodies,  each  consisting  of  oxygen  united  to  a  peculiar  metal — 
he  did  not  succeed,  however,  in  obtaining  the  metals  themselves  in 
quantity  or  condition  to  exhibit  their  properties. 

Soon  after,  GAY  LUSSAC  and  THENARD  devised  a  better  process 
for  preparing  potassium  and  sodium,  by  heating  the  alkalies  with 
iron — and,  still  later,  charcoal  was  found  to  be  a  yet  more  conve- 
nient reducing  agent.  Soon  sodium  could  be  found  for  sale,  but  as 
a  curiosity  merely — in  little  globules  not  larger  than  a  pea,  and  at  a 
price  that  even  in  1830  was  fifty  times  greater  than  that  at  which  it 
can  now  be  sold.  It  was  long  ago  pointed  out  by  GREGORY,  however, 
that  the  high  price  of  sodium  was  due  to  its  being  prepared  only  in 
small  quantity  as  a  scientific  curiosity — that,  if  any  demand  for  it 
in  larger  quantity  should  arise,  it  could  be  furnished  at  a  price  not 
much  exceeding  that  of  zinc. 

Meanwhile,  WOHLER  had,  in  1827,  produced  aluminum  —  the 
metallic  basis  of  the  earth  alumina — in  quantity  sufficiently  visible 
to  admit  of  examining  many  of  its  properties,  some  of  which,  how- 
ever, were  very  imperfectly  exhibited — the  metal  being  impure,  and 
not  united  into  compact  masses.  BUSSY,  in  1830,  made  a  similar 
improved  but  imperfect  examination  of  magnesium.  Neither  of 
these  researches  seemed  to  indicate  any  useful  application  of  the 
metals  as  probable — in  fact  it  was  supposed  that  they  could  not  be 
preserved  in  the  air  from  speedy  oxidation  and  re  conversion  into  the 
earths. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


Up  to  the  year  1853  sodium  was  to  be  found  only  in  chemical 
laboratories,  and  very  few,  even  of  scientific  chemists,  had  ever  seen 
the  smallest  specimen  of  aluminum  or  magnesium.  In  that  year 
DEVILLE — the  illustrious  chemist  who  has  lately  replaced  DUMAS  as 
Professor  in  the  Faculty  of  Sciences  of  Paris  —  occupied  himself 
with  the  preparation  of  Jilumiuum  upon  the  large  scale  and  in  a  state 
of  almost  perfect  purity.  He  shewed  that  this — the  characteristic 
constituent  of  common  clay — possesses  a  number  of  remarkable  pro- 
perties, some  of  which  can  be  turned  to  useful  account. 

The  metal,  as  you  see  it  in  this  bar,  is  only  about  twice  and-a-half 
as  heavy  as  water,  has  a  bright  white  color,  a  high  metallic  lustre, 
and  considerable  malleability  and  ductility  combined  with  a  certain 
hardness,  is  highly  sonorous,  and  can  be  melted,  cast,  hammered, 
rolled,  soldered,  and  alloyed  with  other  metals.  It  remains  untar- 
nished in  an  atmosphere  which  turns  silver  black,  and  resists  the 
action  of  some,  but  not  all,  of  the  most  energetic  chemical  solvents. 
Greater  expectations  were  perhaps  formed  of  its  utility  than  have  yet 
been  fully  justified — but  its  production  has  been  continued  upon  a 
considerable  scale,  and  it  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  jewelry*  and 
ornamental  articles  of  many  kinds,  in  the  construction  of  surgical 
and  musical  instruments,  and  by  chemists  as  a  convenient  material 
for  the  smallest  standards  of  weight.  Its  alloy  with  silver  is  coming 
into  use  as  a  cheap  substitute — of  good  color — for  the  latter  metal 
itself;  and  alloyed — to  the  extent  of  10  per  cent. — with  copper  it 
exhibits  remarkable  tenacity,  and  has  lately,  amongst  other  applica- 
tions, been  employed  in  France  for  the  production  of  the  little 
punches  with  which  the  perforations  in  sheets  of  postage  stamps  are 
made — the  steel  punches  formerly  used  were  worn  out  in  a  single 
day,  while  those  of  this  "aluminum  bronze"  are  found  to  last  for 
many  months  in  good  condition. 

Attention  was  now  again  drawn  to  magnesium,  and  its  preparation 
upon  a  larger  scale  than  before  developed  previously  unsuspected 
capabilities  on  the  part  of  this  metal  also.  In  appearance  it  differs 
not  very  much  from  aluminum,  but  it  has  only  about  once  and  three- 
quarters  the  density  of  water.  It  may  be  melted,  and  even  distilled, 
without  difficulty.  It  admits  of  being  mechanically  worked  to  some 
extent,  but  is  more  readily  oxidized  and  acted  upon  by  chemical 

*  Contrasted  with  gold  in  the  same  article  of  jewelry  it  sometimes  produces  an  excellent 
effect. 


26  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


reagents  in  general  than  aluminum.  Its  chief  practical  value  has 
been  found  to  depend  upon  the  brilliant  light — measurably  compara- 
ble with  that  of  the  sun* — which,  as  you  see,  it  produces  when  a 
thin  wire  or  riband  is  burned  in  the  air  or  in  oxygen.  This  light 
has  been  brought  into  use  for  military  and  other  signals,  for  the  pro- 
duction of  photographic  pictures  at  times  -and  in  places — as  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea — where  sunlight  cannot  be  had,  and  for  other  pur- 
poses requiring  a  very  pure  and  very  intense  light.  The  metal, 
purified  by  distillation,  has  also  furnished  chemists  valuable  aid  in 
the  detection  of  arsenic  in  cases  of  poisoning. 

But  the  manufacture  of  aluminum  and  magnesium  created  a 
demand  for  sodium,  to  be  used  in  reducing  the  former  metals,  and 
soon  GREGORY'S  prediction  was  partially  verified,  and  sodium  became 
as  cheap  and  abundant  as  before  it  had  been  rare  and  costly. 

In  1865  an  independent  use  was  found  for  this  metal  itself.  It 
was  discovered  that  the  addition  of  a  very  little — not  more  than  one- 
half  or  one  per  cent. — of  sodium  to  mercury  increases  very  greatly 
the  adhesion  of  the  latter  to  other  metals — a  fact  which  I  can  illus- 
trate for  you  with  a  piece  of  iron,  a  metal  to  which  mercury  in  its 
ordinary  condition  will  not  adhere  at  all.  This  fact  is  taken  advan- 
tage of  in  the  extraction  of  native  gold  from  the  quartz  with  which 
it  occurs.  A  solid  amalgam  is  first  formed  of  one  part  of  sodium 
and  thirty  of  mercury — this  can  be  conveniently  kept  and  trans- 
ported, and  is  added  for  use  to  so  much  more  mercury  that  there  are 
120 — 150  parts  of  the  latter  to  1  of  sodium.  Mercury  thus  treated, 
when  agitated  with  the  finely  divided  quartz  and  water  known  as 
:;  slime,"  takes  up  the  minute  particles  of  gold  much  more  quickly 
and  perfectly  than  ordinary  quicksilver — and  actual  experiments 
upon  the  working  scale  have  proved  that  the  yield  of  gold  is  largely 
increased — in  some  cases  to  the  extent  of  more  than  fifty  per  cent. 
Poorer  quartz  than  formerly  can  now  be  worked  with  profit,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  the  loss  of  mercury  itself  is  much  diminished. 

Such  are  the  main  points  in  the  story  of  the  "  light  metals" — that 

of  the  "  coal-tar  colors"  is  more  simple,  but  not  wanting  in  interest. 

In  1826  UNVERDORBEN  discovered  that  by  distilling  indigo  under 

*  One  set  of  comparative  experiments  is  said  to  have  indicated  a  light-producing  power 
equivalent  to  l-225th  that  of  the  Run,  while  the  photographic  effect  was  found  to  be  l-36th 
of  the  same. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  2? 


certain  conditions  a  liquid  substance  is  produced  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  crystalline,  as  it  formed  distinctly  crystallizable  compounds 
with  acids — the  name  aniline  was  afterwards  applied  to  it. 

In  1835  RUNGE,  who  had  obtained  the  same  substance  amongst 
the  products  of  the  distillation  of  coal-tar,  noticed  that  it  developed 
a  violet-blue  color  by  treatment  with  a  solution  of  chloride  of  lime 
(bleaching  powder). 

In  1840  FRITZSCHE,  in  experimenting  upon  aniline  with  a  mix- 
ture of  chlorate  of  potash  and  hydrochloric  acid,  observed  a  blue 
coloration. 

In  1843  HOFMANN,  to  whose  later  researches  we  owe  much  of  our 
scientific  knowledge  of  the  aniline  colors,  developed  a  red  color  in 
treating  aniline  with  fuming  nitric  acid. 

All  these  early  observations,  however,  were  simply  recorded  as 
facts  of  scientific  interest,  the  colors  were  not  known  to  be  dyes  of 
permanent  tinctorial  value,  and  no  practical  application  was  made  of 
them. 

In  1856  Mr.  PERKIN  patented  in  England  the  first  practical  pro- 
cess for  manufacturing  a  dyeing  material  from  the  source  in  question. 
The  color  which  he  had  obtained  was  a  violet,  to  which  the  tech- 
nical name  "mauve"  was  given— it  was  produced  by  acting  upon  ani- 
line with  bi-chromate  of  potash  and  sulphuric  acid.  This  color 
attracted,  however,  no  very  great  attention  at  first. 

In  1858  HOFMANN,  in  again  working  upon  aniline  from  the 
purely  scientific  point  of  view,  again  noticed  the  appearance  of  a 
rich  crimson  color,  this  time  from  the  action  of  bi-chloride  of  car- 
bon— kut  of  this  fact  again  no  practical  application  was  made. 

In  1859  came  at  last,  in  an  indirect  way  and  from  an  unexpected 
quarter,  the  discovery  which  opened  up  the  now  important  industry 
of  aniline  colors.  M.  M.  GUINON,  MARNAS  and  BONNET  of  Lyons 
produced  a  permanent  and  brilliant  purple  from  orseille  (the  coloring 
matter  of  lichens),  which  was  introduced  into  commerce  as  "  French 
purple,"  and  soon  became  widely  and  favorably  known.  This  resem- 
bled so  closely  the  tint  of  Mr  PERKIN'S  "  mauve,"  discovered  three 
years  before,  that  the  latter  became  fashionable,  and  attention  was  at 
once  bestowed  upon  it  and  the  process  by  which  it  was  made ;  so 
that  fresh  experiments  were  instituted  upon  aniline — now  with  the 
object  of  technical  application  distinctly  in  view. 
D 


28  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


In  the  same  year — 1859 — M.  VERGUIN,  of  the  firm  of  RENAUD 
frcres  of  Lyons,  discovered  and  patented  the  process  for  producing  a 
splendid  red  color  by  treating  aniline  with  bi-chloride  of  tin. 

Attention  was  now  at  once  forcibly  drawn  to  these  new  dyes — their 
great  beauty,  brilliancy,  power  of  supporting  artificial  light  and 
intense  colorific  effect  were  recognized — and  chemists  went  to  work  in 
all  directions  to  look  for  new  colors  from  the  same  source,  and  differ- 
ent means  of  obtaining  those  already  known.  In  1859,  1860  and 
1861  numerous  patents  were  taken  out,  chiefly  in  England  and 
France,  for  processes  connected  with  the  new  manufacture.  By  act- 
ing with  reducing  agents  upon  aniline  red  it  was  found  that  beautiful 
blue  colors  could  be  obtained,  and  subsequently  fine  tints  of  green, 
yellow,  brown,  and  black  were  successively  brought  forward. 

Many  persons  have  of  late  years  become  familiar  with  the  names 
of  various  fashionable  colors — Magenta,  Solferino,  fuchsine,  azaleine, 
peoninc,  mauve,  violine,  imperial  violet,  regina  purple,  bleu  de  Paris, 
bleu  de  Lyons,  azurine,  emeraldine,  phosphine,  couleur  de  mais,  &c., 
&c. — without  knowing  that  all  these  were  derived  from  one  and 
the  same  source,  and  that  source  no  other  than  the  homely,  dirty, 
sticky  and  disagreeable  substance — coal-tar. 

As  the  manufacture  is  now  carried  on,  the  tar  is  subjected  to  frac- 
tional distillation,  repeated  several  times  upon  the  different  products 
obtained.  The  portion  boiling  between  about  160°  and  250°  F. — 
called  in  commerce  benzole — consists  mainly  of  the  two  substances 
benzole  and  toluole.  These  are  converted  into  nitro-benzole  (also 
known  and  used  as  artificial  oil  of  bitter  almonds)  and  nitro-toluole 
by  treatment  of  the  liquid  with  fuming  nitric  acid.  Further  treat- 
ment, now  with  reducing  agents — generally  in  practice  acetic  acid 
and  metallic  iron — produces  aniline  and  toluidine,  which  mixed 
together  constitute  the  liquid  known  commercially  as  aniline.  This 
is  the  immediate  source  of  the  various  colors,  which  are  produced  by 
a  great  number  of  different  processes — some  of  which  have  just  been 
indicated,  and  which  may,  for  the  most  part,  be  classed  under  the 
heads  of  oxidation,  reduction,  and  the  substitution  of  compound 
radicals  for  the  element  hydrogen. 

Here  are  some  specimens  of  these  substances,  of  the  colors  derived 
from  them,  (in  the  dry  state  and  in  solution  in  alcohol),  and  of  fab- 
rics which  have  been  dyed  with  some  of  the  more  prominent  tints. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  29 


On  the  blackboard  you  will  see  the  formulae  which  represent  the 
more  important  chemical  reactions  referred  to. 

The  distillation  of  coal-tar,  for  the  purpose  of  producing  the  light 
oil  or  benzole  to  be  used  in  making  these  colors,  is  now  an  impor- 
tant business  of  itself,  and  involves  the  manufacture  at  the  same 
time  of  a  number  of  secondary  products  from  the  same  material — 
many  of  which  are  practically  useful,  and  give  rise  in  turn  to  inde- 
pendent branches  of  industry. 

Some  of  the  fluid  products  are  used,  as  "  solvent  naphtha,"  for 
dissolving  indian  rubber  and  in  the  preparation  of  varnishes — others 
are  employed  to  increase  the  illuminating  power  of  coal  gas — others 
for  the  manufacture  of  lubricators  for  machinery  and  railroad  car- 
riages. Naphthaline  and  carbolic  acid  have  each  been  found  to 
afford  new  colors,  rivalling  in  brilliancy  and  beauty  those  from  ani- 
line, and  carbolic  acid  itself  has  come  into  use  as  one  of  the  most 
powerful  antiseptics  and  disinfectants. 

One  of  the  fluid  products  of  coal-tar  distillation,  and  that  by  far 
the  most  abundant  in  quantity — the  "  dead  oil,"'  which  comes  over 
at  higher  temperatures  than  the  benzole — still  remains  almost  with- 
out known,  application.  It  is  used  for  preserving  timber  from  decay, 
and  for  making  lampblack,  but  the  supply  so  far  exceeds  the  demand 
from  these  or  any  other  sources  that  the  oil  is  almost  without  value 
in  the  market.  It  offers  a  fine  field  for  further  investigation. 

In  thus  reviewing  some  of  the  points  as  to  the  relation  between 
purely  scientific  discoveries  and  their  practical  applications,  I  must 
not  omit  to  notice  briefly  one  or  two  errors  upon  this  subject,  which 
are  not  uncommon,  and  which  sometimes  bring  undeserved  contempt 
upon  the  pursuit  of  researches  in  applied  science. 

Men  are  not  uufrequently  to  be  heard  speaking  of  themselves  or  of 
their  neighbors  as  having  made  some  business  experiment — in  agricul- 
ture, in  mining,  in  manufactures,  or  the  like — with  all  the  aids  of  mod- 
ern science — aids  derived  either  from  their  own  study  of  the  subject 
or  from  consultation  with  those  professionally  acquainted  with  it ;  the 
result  is  declared  to  be  disastrous,  and  the  "good  old  practical  way"  is 
praised  as  far  safer  than  the  pursuit  of  any  "new-fangled"  and  "theo- 
retical" notions.  Such  men  very  often  fail  to  see  that  several  condi- 
tions were  necessary  to  the  attainment  of  their  object,  every  one  of 


30  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


which  had  to  be  fulfilled  in  order  to  success  in  the  final  result — that 
they  fulfilled,  perhaps  intelligently  and  completely,  the  greater  num- 
ber of  such  conditions,  but  failed  in  some  one,  or  possibly  overlooked  it 
altogether.  We  have  seen  that  some  such  conditions  are  of  a  purely 
scientific — others  of  a  commercial — character.  The  former  involve 
the  facts  and  laws  of  nature—the  latter  the  principles  and  present 
state  of  trade.  If  either  be  neglected,  or  their  bearing  upon  each 
other  be  overlooked,  failure  need  not  be  wondered  at 

The  man  who  would  apply  scientific  knowledge  to  some  special 
purpose  must  be  certain  that  he  really  has  the  knowledge  in  the  first 
instance — must  make  sure  of  his  facts,  and  fully  understand  the 
principles  involved.  If  he  submit  the  scientific  aspect  of  a  question 
to  a  professedly  scientific  man  for  advice,  he  must  have  some  guaran- 
tee that  the  adviser  is  well  informed  and,  above  all,  honest  enough  not 
to  pretend  to  know  more  than  he  really  does — and,  in  laying  the  case 
before  such  an  adviser,  care  must  be  taken  that  all  material  facts 
upon  which  an  opinion  is  to  be  based  are  fully  and  fairly  stated.  The 
same  degree  of  attention  must  then  be  given  to  the  commercial  side 
of  the  question — the  common-place  considerations  of  cost  and  price, 
profit  and  loss,  interest  and  insurance,  present  condition  and  future 
fluctuations  of  markets,  must  be  looked  into  with  the  aid  of  the 
fullest  information  and  best  judgment  possessed  by  oneself  or  those 
upon  whom  reliance  may  be  placed;  and,  finally,  the  bearing  upon 
each  other  of  the  scientific  and  commercial  conclusions  arrived  at 
must  be  carefully  taken  into  account  in  deciding  to  make  or  not  to 
make  the  experiment  in  view,  and  in  choosing  the  form,  time,  and 
manner  of  making  it. 

So-called  "  practical "  men  often  regard  with  ridicule  what  they 
suppose  to  be  the  failure  of  scientifically  conducted  experiments,  in 
consequence  of  their  own  failure  to  distinguish  between  experiments 
made  with  a  view  to  obtaining  information  and  those  which  are  made 
in  order  to  achieve  a  particular  concrete  result — the  'k  cxperimenta 
lucifera"  and  "  expcrimenta  fructifera"  so  admirably  contrasted  by 
the  father  of  modern  Inductive  Philosophy.  An  excellent  illustra- 
tion of  this  may  be  drawn  from  the  history  of  the  cultivation  for 
four  years,  by  the  celebrated  German  chemist  LIEBIG,  of  a  piece  of 
land  in  the  neighborhood  of  Giessen.*  The  land  in  question — about 

*LiEBio — Principles  of  Agricultural  Chemistry,  etc.,  1855,  pp.  30-35. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  31 


ten  acres  in  extent — was  in  1845  a  perfectly  barren  tract  of  sand, 
upon  which  there  did  not  grow  in  a  whole  year  grass  or  anything 
else  in  quantity  to  support  a  single  sheep.  Mineral  manure  of  par- 
ticular kinds  was  applied  to  this  soil — it  improved  in  character  year 
by  year — and  in  1849  it  "  excited  the  admiration  and  wonder  of  all 
who  had  known  the  original  state  and  quality  of  the  land/'  The 
tract  had  now  acquired  value,  and  was  sold.  An  account  of  the 
total  expenditure  upon  the  place,  as  set  against  the  price  received  lor 
it,  shewed  that  the  former  exceeded  the  latter  by  about  8,000  florins 
— or,  say  $3,200.  A  "  practical "  man,  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
term  is  often  erroneously  used,  might  say  (and  such  reflections  were 
actually  made)  thafthis  was  a  glaring  example  of  the  absurd  results 
following  the  application  of  science  to  matters  of  business — that  the 
land  had,  indeed,  been  enriched,  and  such  result  was  very  well  as  a 
matter  of  scientific  interest  or  amusement,  but  that  the  consequence 
to  the  pocket  of  the  experimenter  was  not  profit,  but  the  loss  of  no 
small  sum  of  money. 

The  object  of  the  experiment  was  not  immediate  profit,  but  infor- 
mation— information  which  might  at  a  later  day  be  rendered  profitable, 
and  which  could  only  be  obtained  by  means  of  this  present  outlay. 
In  order  to  render  distinctly  observable  the  effects  of  certain  manures, 
the  scientific  conditions  were  simplified  by  working  upon  a  piece  of 
land  so  barren  that  it  would  not  of  itself  support  vegetation  at  all. 
A  distinct  question  was  put  to  nature,  and  a  distinct  answer  was 
received.  The  knowledge  thus  gained  was  valuable,  and — like  all 
valuable  things — had  to  be  paid  for.  The  sum  of  8.000  florins  just 
spoken  of  was  the  price  paid  for  this  knowledge,  not  the  loss  upon 
an  unsuccessful  speculation.  The  knowledge  once  gained,  the  experi- 
ment was  not  proposed  as  a  model  for  imitation.  The  use  to  be  made 
afterwards  of  the  knowledge  itself  was  an  entirely  different  affair — 
the  true  application  was  to  be  made  in  the  cultivation  of  ordinary 
land,  poor  enough  to  need  manure,  yet  not  so  poor  as  entirely  to  pre- 
clude financially  successful  cultivation. 

One  other  popular  error  in  connection  with  our  general  subject 
consists  in  demanding  more  of  science  than  she  can  at  present  give, 
requiring  full  information  upon  subjects  of  which  our  real  knowledge 
is  confessedly  very  incomplete.  This  is  perhaps  a  more  common 
mistake  in  the  present  day  than  that  just  alluded  to — men  have 
become  so  accustomed  to  hear  of  the  wonderful  achievements  of  this 


32  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


scientific  age,  and  the  rate  at  which  the  frontier  line  that  divides  the 
known  from  the  unknown  is  being  pushed  forward,  that  they  almost 
forget  the  existence  of  such  a  line,  and  fancy  that  they  have  but  to 
call  for  whatever  information  they  may  need  for  their  individual 
purposes  in  order  at  once  to  receive  it. 

Such  men  bring  a  pound  or  two  of  soil  from  one  of  their  fields  to 
a  chemist,  -and  expect  that,  after  he  has  looked  at  it,  poured  a  little 
acid  upon  a  portion  of  it  in  a  test-tube,  or  submitted  it  to  some  to 
them  unknown  process  of  analysis,  he  shall  inform  them  of  something, 
of  moderate  cost,  peculiarly  adapted  to  that  field,  that  shall  at  once 
remedy  all  its  defects,  and  magically  increase  its  fertility.  Our  real 
knowledge  of  chemistry  is  almost  as  imperfect  in  reference  to  its 
applications  to  agriculture  as  to  medicine,  and  specific  recipes  for 
specific  diseases  are  about  as  imaginary  in  the  one  case  as  in  the 
other.  No  sensible  man  refuses  to  send  for  a  doctor  when  he  is  sick 
because  pathology  is  a  very  imperfect  science,  and  the  physician 
must  often  feel  doubt  about  his  diagnosis  and  hesitation  as  to  the 
remedies  he  ought  to  use.  Yet  the  most  extravagant  expectations 
are  often  formed  of  the  precision  and  completeness  with  which  ques- 
tions can  be  answered  as  to  the  applications  of  science  to'  agriculture 
and  the  arts — the  greatest  disappointment  is  expressed  when  these 
expectations  fail  to  be  realized — and  that  which  science  can  do  at 
present  is  pronounced  to  be  valueless  because  she  cannot  yet  do 
everything. 

I  have  already  occupied  your  attention  so  long  that  I  can  devote 
but  little  time  to  the  consideration  of  the  last  topic  which  I  proposed 
to  bring  before  you — namely,  the  practical  form  which  it  seems  desi- 
rable to  give  to  the  teaching  of  Applied  Chemistry  in  this  University. 

To  place  a  student  abreast  of  the  present  condition  of  such  an 
eminently  progressive  and  practical  department  of  science  as  this, 
and  to  qualify  him  to  keep  up  with  its  progress  hereafter,  two  things 
appear  to  bo  chieily  needed  ;  first,  such  didactic  instruction  as  shall 
fairly  place  before  him  the  most  important  results  of  investigation  on 
the  part  of  technical  chemists  in  the  past,  our  stock  of  knowledge 
accumulated  up  to  the  present  date  ]  in  the  second  place,  such  prac- 
tical instruction  of  the  faculties  of  his  mind  and  physical  senses  as 
shall  enable  him  hereafter  to  test  for  himself  the  results  of  others, 
and  to  do  his  part  in  adding  to  our  store  of  knowledge,  and  in  apply- 
ing it  to  practical  questions  as  they  arise. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  33 


Hence  the  principal  features  in  the  systematic  teaching  proposed 
are — a  course  of  lectures  upon  the  Applications  of  Chemistry  to  the 
Arts,  and  a  course  of  laboratory  instruction  in  Practical  and  Analyti- 
cal Chemistry. 

In  the  former  of  these  the  leading  principles  of  Agriculture, 
Metallurgy,  and  the  more  important  Arts  and  Manufactures,  so  far  as 
these  are  dependent  upon  Chemistry,  should  be  taken  up  in  order 
and  discussed,  with  suitable  illustration  by  specimens,  models, 
diagrams,  and  experiments.  The  order  should  be  that  of  the  arts 
themselves,  classified  in  relation  to  the  nature  and  uses  of  their  pro- 
ducts, the  materials  and  processes  involved — not  that  of  the  laws  and 
elementary  substances  of  pure  Chemistry,  which  are  already  fully 
treated  of  in  the  able  hands  to  which  they  have  so  long  been  com- 
mitted in  the  University.  There  is  great  want  of  suitable  text-books 
— at  any  rate  in  English — to  be  used  in  connection  with  such  a 
course;  and  this  is  to  be  regretted,  as  a  good,  clearly  written  text- 
book— not  too  large — embracing  the  topics  cf  a  lecture  within  a 
a  moderate  compass — and  following  in  the  main  the  same  order  with 
that  pursued  by  the  lecturer — undoubtedly  affords  valuable  assistance 
to  the  student.  Books  of  reference,  however,  which  may  be  profita- 
bly consulted  on  particular  subjects,  exist  in  abundance — in  English, 
as  well  as  in  French  and  German. 

The  practical  course  in  the  laboratory  should  include  the  construc- 
tion and  use  of  the  apparatus  employed  in  chemical  research,  the 
manipulation  connected  with  the  various  processes  of  operative  chem- 
istry, the  methods  of  analysis — both  qualitative  and  quantitative — , 
and  especially  the  modifications  of  these  most  conveniently  applica- 
ble to  the  purposes  of  technical  investigation. 

Such  a  course  is  likely  to  be  looked  upon  by  most  students  as  intrin- 
sically attractive — even  amusing.  The  actual  performance  of  chem- 
ical experiments  and  observation  of  chemical  phenomena  have  always 
a  certain  charm.  Even  two  hundred  years  ago  BECIIER  *,  though  he 
speaks  of  chemists  as  a  strange  class  of  mortals  impelled  by  an  almost 
insane  impulse  to  seek  their  pleasures  among  smoke  and  vapour,  soot 
and  flame,  poisons  and  poverty,  adds  as  regards  himself  "  yet  among 
all  these  evils  I  seem  to  myself  to  live  so  sweetly,  that  may  I  die 
if  I  would  change  places  with  the  Persian  King." 

*The  author  of  Physfr.a  Subtcrmnca. 


34  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 

It  is,  however,  scarcely  possible  to  over-estimate  the  real  advantages 
of  laboratory  practice,  to  the  student  of  general  chemistry,  but  still 
more  to  him  who  would  learn  how  its  teachings  may  be  applied  to 
the  purposes  of  daily  life.  By  means  of  such  practice  he  learns  to 
look  directly  at  nature — to  see  natural  objects  and  natural  phenom- 
ena with  his  own  eyes,  not  simply  in  the  reflection  of  what  he  sup- 
poses to  be  the  appearance  they  present  to  others.  The  teacher  or 
the  book  may,  and  ought  to,  tell  him  what  to  look  at,  and  how  to 
observe  it — but  he  must  not  rest  satisfied  with  having  been  so  told — 
he  must  look  at  it,  observe  it,  familiarize  himself  with  it,  and 
retain  in  his  mind  a  distinct  picture  of  the  thing  itself,  instead  of 
the  description  merely  which  others  have  given  of  it.  It  is  possible 
to  have  the  longest  Latin  and  Greek  names  and  the  most  mysterious 
looking  symbols  firmly  impressed  upon  the  memory,  while  the  things 
which  these  names  and  symbols  signify  remain  utterly  unfamiliar. 
Scientific  terms  are  extremely  valuable  from  their  precision  and  con- 
venience— but,  like  all  words,  they  are  merely  the  representatives  of 
things,  of  facts,  of  principles,  of  ideas — and  with  these  themselves 
we  must  become  familiar  if  we  would  really  understand  their  mutual 
relations  and  the  applications  which  may  be  made  of  them. 

From  books  and  lectures  may  be  obtained  a  general  or  panoramic 
view  of  the  field  of  study  of  which  we  are  speaking — from  them  may 
be  derived  a  knowledge  of  the  natural  order,  arrangement  and  con- 
nection of  the  facts  which  have  been  observed  by  others,  and  which 
the  student  is  afterwards  as  far  as  possible  to  observe  for  himself — 
upon  these  he  may  have  to  depend  for  some  facts  the  opportunity  of 
observing  which  is  practically  out  of  his  reach — but  the  more  he 
regards  them  as  simply  drawing  his  attention  to  and  placing  under 
his  own  observation  the  unveiled  face  of  nature  herself,  the  sounder, 
the  more  valuable,  and  the  more  practically  available  will  be  the 
knowledge  which  he  obtains.* 

*  "That  a  system  of  teaching  the  physical  sciences  should  not  remain  barren  of  application 
to  useful  purposes,  and  indeed  that  it  should  exercise  any  beneficial  influence  whatever  on  the 
mind,  it  ought  to  be  such  as  to  ensure  to  the  student  an  immediate,  familiar,  and,  as  it  were, 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  facts  and  laws  of  nature,  and  with  the  manner  in  which  they 
arise  under  our  hands  and  eyes  in  scientific  processes." — Report  (above  quoted)  of  the  Cam- 
bridge University  Commission — p.  11G.  (under  the  head  of  "  Laboratories  and  apparatus : ") 

"  He  "  (the  chemist)  "  must  learn  to  interpret  the  effects  of  mixtiire,  heat,  and  other  chem- 
ical agencies,  so  as  to  see  in  them  those  facts  which  chemistry  makes  the  basis  of  her  doctrines. 
And,  in  learning  to  interpret  this  language,  he  must  also  learn  to  call  it  forth ;  — to  place  bodies 
under  the  requisite  conditions,  by  the  apparatus  of  his  own  laboratory  and  the  operation?  of 
hi?  own  fingers. — WHEWF.LL — Philosophy  of  fh?  InrlHcliw  Scifnr.es — Vol.  2.  p.  .',01. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  35 


Even  as  regards  long  known  facts,  the  experiments  in  illustration 
of  which  he  merely  repeats,  he  finds  that  no  impressions  equal  in 
clearness  and  accuracy  those  which  he  acquires  with  the  blow-pipe 
and  the  test-tube  in  his  own  hands — and  he  soon  perceives  that  the 
use  of  such  apparatus,  and  the  performance  of  such  experiments, 
constitute  in  themselves  an  art  which  must  be  practically  mastered 
in  order  to  be  made  available. 

But  it  is  only  by  coming  into  direct  contact  with  natural  phe- 
nomena that  anything  like  original  investigation  can  be  attempted, 
and  every  student  of  applied  chemistry,  or  indeed  of  any  branch  of 
natural  science,  ought  to  be.,  in  however  humble  and  limited  a  way, 
an  original  investigator.  Our  knowledge  of  nature  is  necessarily  pro- 
gressive— the  more  we  learn  the  more  we  find  there  remains  to  be 
learned — each  question  solved  suggests  other  and  new  questions,  and 
new  methods  of  attacking  them. 

It  may  be  objected  that  we  can  only  look  to  intellects  of  unusual 
power  for  new  discoveries,  and  thajt  ordinary  minds  must  be  content 
with  merely  receiving  their  novel  teachings  and  endeavoring  to 
understand  and  remember  them. 

But  in  building  up  the  stately  edifice  of  scientific  truth  work- 
men are  employed  of  every  grade — great  master  masons,  who  far 
excel  their  fellows  in  comprehension  of  the  designs  of  the  creative 
mind — active  builders,  who  can  lay  stone  upon  stone,  each  in  its 
proper  place,  as  the  mighty  plan  becomes  gradually  revealed — and 
simple  laborers,  who  can  do  nothing  more  than  hew  out  of  the  rock 
and  bring  to  the  builders  the  material  destined  for  the  structure. 
In  their  appointed  sphere  of  service  the  last  are  as  important  and 
as  useful  as  the  first.  The  main  thing  that  is  required  of  them  is 
that  they  shall  offer  nought  but  sound  material  to  be  incorporated 
in  the  pile — that  no  spurious  and  valueless  stones  be  permitted  to 
fill  positions  from  which  they  must  presently  be  rejected.  • 

At  intervals  of  centuries  there  appear  the  wonderful  intellects — 
the  BACONS  and  the  NEWTONS — by  whom  (themselves  sometimes 
accomplishing  much — sometimes  very  little — in  the  details  of  sci- 
entific research)  the  whole  course  of  scientific  progress  is  changed, 
and  the  direction  of  successful  intellectual  effort  pointed  out  to 
their  fellow-men.  Then  we  have  at  all  times,  and  more  especially 
in  these  modern  days,  many  strong  and  active  minds  busily  devo- 
ting themselves  to  the  establishment  of  new — that  is,  unrecog- 


36  CJiemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts. 


nized — laws  of  nature,  determining  and  putting  together  in  the 
form  of  principles  the  mutual  relations  of  the  facts  which  they 
find  for  the  most  part  already  known,  but  which  have  hitherto 
been  more  or  less  isolated  and  without  order.  And,  lastly,  we 
have  a  far  greater  number  of  thinkers,  observers,  and  experiment- 
ers who  occupy  themselves  with  simply  ascertaining  and  recording 
facts  themselves.  These  last  do  good  and  honorable  service. 

No  fact,  however  apparently  trivial  and  insignificant,  is  desti- 
tute of  value,  provided  only  it  be  really  a  fact — really  a  fragment, 
however  small,  of  the  eternal  truth  of  nature.  And  in  the  study 
of  nature,  it  matters  not  in  what  direction,  no  man  can  acquire 
the  power  and  the  habit  of  accurate,  original,  practical  observa- 
tion without  now  and  then  coming  across  facts  that  are  new,  that 
should  be  recorded  and  preserved,  and  that  may — in  the  future, 
if  not  immediately — turn  out  to  be  of  the  utmost  interest, 
importance,  and  practical  value. 

I  have  tried — Gentlemen — to  place  before  your  minds  some 
ideas  with  regard  to  a  particular  department  of  natural  science — to 
point  out  some  of  the  motives  which  invite  our  attention  to  it — 
to  define  to  some  extent  its  proper  limits — to  indicate  in  general 
terms  the  method  of  its  study — and  to  suggest  some  of  the 
errors  and  misapprehensions  which  occasionally  prevail  with  regard 
to  it. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  not,  by  altogether  failing  to  notice  the 
noblest  light  in  which  it  may  be  viewed,  be  guilty  of  what,  in  the 
memorable  words  of  BACON,*  is  "  the  greatest  error  of  all  the  rest — 
the  mistaking  or  misplacing  of  the  last  or  farthest  end  of  knowl- 
edge— for  "  says  he  : 

"  Men  have  entered  into  a  desire  of  learning  and  knowledge,  sometimes 
upon  a  natural  curiosity,  and  inquisitive  appetite  ;  sometimes  to  entertain 
their  minds  with  variety  and  delight ;  sometimes  for  ornament  and  reputa- 
tion ;  and  sometimes  to  enable  them  to  victory  of  wit  and  contradiction  ; 
and  most  times  for  lucre  and  profession ;  and  seldom  sincerely  to  give  a 
true  account  of  their  gift  of  reason,  to  the  benefit  and  use  of  men:  as  if 
there  were  sought  in  knowledge  a  couch,  whereupon  to  rest  a  searching 
and  restless  spirit ;  or  a  terras,  for  a  wandering  and  variable  mind  to  walk 
up  and  down  with  a  fair  prospect ;  or  a  tower  of  state,  for  a  proud  mind  to 
raise  itself  upon  ;  or  a  fort  or  commanding  ground,  for  strife  and  conten- 
tion ;  or  a  shop,  for  profit  or  sale  ;  and  not  a  rich  store-house,  for  the  glory 
of  the  Creator,  and  the  relief  of  man's  estate." 

*  Of  the  Advancement  of  Learning — Book  I. 


Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Arts.  37 


If  the  department  of  knowledge  which  we  have  been  discussing 
is  peculiarly  concerned  with  the  "relief  of  man's  estate,"  it  is 
4ilso  peculiarly  well  fitted  to  raise  up  in  our  minds  the  remem- 
brance, with  gratitude  and  reverence,  of  Him  who  has  bestowed 
upon  us  all  the  good  gifts  of  nature,  with  the  highest  gift  of  all — 
reason,  wherewith  to  discern  their  uses  and  avail  ourselves  of 
their  benefits — who  has  committed  into  our  hand  the  beasts  of 
the  field,  the  trees  of  the  forest,  the  treasures  of  the  dark  mine 
.and  the  fruitful  soil,  all  that  we  need  to  surround  ourselves  with 
-comfort  and  with  beauty — and  who,  at  the  same  time,  teaching 
us  humility,  has  himself  so  clothed  the  lilies  of  the  field  as  that 
.SOLOMON  in  all  his  glory  was  not  like  them  arrayed. 


38  Chemistry  Applied  to  the  Art*. 


AJCXDENDUM. 


Since  the  above  lecture  was  delivered  the  attention  of  the  writer 
has  been  drawn  to  the  following  recently  published  statements  with 
regard  to  the  Ecole  Centrale  des  Arts  et  Manufactures  of  Paris,  which 
are  interesting  as  placing  in  a  distinct  and  positive  light  the  practical 
results  of  technical  education  in  France : 

"The  Ecole  Centrale is  now,  perhaps,  the  most  celebra- 
ted school  of  applied  sciences  in  the  world,  and  so  great  have  been  the 
services  it  has  rendered  that  M.  MICHEL  CHEVALIER  once  said: — 'If  the 
Ecole  Centrale  were  not  in  existence,  it  would  be  necessary  to  create  it  a& 
the  complement  of  the  treaties  of  commerce.' 

It  has  500  pupils,  and  the  number  of  applications  for  admission  is  always 
twice  as  large  as  the  actual  vacancies.  The  period  of  study  occupies  three 
years,  and  the  pupils  are  obliged  to  take  up  all  the  subjects  comprised  in 
the  course.  It  is  thoroughly  adapted  to  industrial  science,  the  first  year 
being  on  theoretical  subjects,  and  the  second  and  third  on  theory  and  ap- 
plication to  practice.  The  heads  of  the  subjects  of  these  two  years  are: — 
applied  mechanics ;  the  construction  and  erection  of  machinery ;  analyti- 
cal, industrial,  and  agricultural  chemistry ;  civil  engineering ;  natural 
philosophy  in  its  application  to  the  arts;  metallurgy;  mineralogy;  geology: 
and  mining.  Amongst  2,000  young  men  who  have  left  this  school,  the 
career  of  1,394  has  been  recently  traced,  and  the  issue  was  this: — 247  had 
died,  while  of  the  others  480  were  engineers  or  superior  officers  of  railways; 
54  were  mechanical  engineers;  124  iron  masters;  280  manufacturers  of 
considerable  eminence ;  55  were  architects ;  35  contractors  for  public 
works  ;  and  42  professors  of  the  applied  sciences.  The  rest  filled  honoura- 
ble posts  in  trade  or  in  the  service  of  the  French  and  foreign  governments. 
The  names  of  some  of  the  engineers  and  manufacturers  are  widely  known. 
It  would  be  impossible  in  any  country  to  account  more  satisfactorily  for 
any  2,000  pupils  of  any  school  or  college 

.  .  .  Throughout  France  there  is  but  one  opinion  of  the  value  of  the 
diploma  of  the  Ecole  Centrale.  Whether  those  who  hold  it  become  chem- 
ists, or  metallurgists,  or  contractors,  they  are  everywhere  found  to  be 
thoroughly  well-prepared  men,  intelligent  as  draughtsmen,  and  ready  in 
the  application  of  their  theoretical  knowledge." 

Article  on  "Technical  and  Scientific  Education"  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  for  April,  1808.. 
(Am.  ed.)  pp.  227-228. 


